Bluesky

Last updated Jan 20, 2025

Twitter alternative. Created by the original founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey.

The Bluesky (open source) implementation of PDS uses SQLite per user.

Check out how it’s built on Data Engineering Whitepapers, helped by Martin Kleppmann.

The code is open-source on

• GitHub - bluesky-social/social-app: The Bluesky Social application for Web, iOS, and Android.
• As well as the protocol AT Protocol they use: GitHub - bluesky-social/atproto: Social networking technology created by Bluesky
• Personal Data Server (PDS)

Jack Dorsey introduced the Bluesky project back in 2019 while he was still Twitter CEO. At the time, he said Twitter would be funding a “small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers,” charged with building a decentralized standard for social media, with the original goal that Twitter would adopt this standard itself. But that was before Elon Musk bought the platform, so Bluesky is completely divorced from Twitter.

As of May 2024, Dorsey is  no longer on Bluesky’s board. Bluesky is now an independent public benefit corporation led by  CEO Jay Graber. What is Bluesky? Everything to know about the X competitor.

More on Inside Bluesky’s Engineering Culture.

Initial announcement: x.com

2024-11-20

CEO of new social media company competing with X describes users’ experiences - YouTube

• Web Without Walls — Dan Abramov - see also Future of Web
• A complete guide to Bluesky 🦋 – mackuba.eu
• How Bluesky and it’s underlaying ATProto works explained with a collection of my Bsky Posts
• Also, check out Chris Titus Bluesky is AMAZING - YouTube video.

As an open network, there are tools popping up every day. Here’s my try to collect the most important.

• Network Analysis: Bluesky network analyser - Find popular accounts you’re not following
• List Management: ClearSky - See which lists include you
• Handle Resolution: Internect.info - Look up Bluesky handles
• Content Discovery: Bluesky Directory - Search engine for starter packs and feeds
• Creating a circle of friends: Skircle - Bluesky Interaction Circles
• GitHub like Block View: BlueView
• Create Custom Feeds: SkyFeed
• TweetDeck for Bluesky: deck.blue
• Daily Digest of Your Network with Popular Links: SkyDigest
• Growth User Counter: Bcounter and Bluesky User Counter

• Activity Tracking: Bluesky Charts - Weekly activity visualization^fb0c29 ^f0db67
  • GitHub Source
  • Background Info
• User Stats:
  • Bluesky Stats - Stats dashboard by Jaz
  • Atmosphere - Aggregated user statistics
• Data Analysis:
  • hercules - DuckDB-powered Prometheus exporter
  • DuckDB Query Example - Direct data querying
• Follower Groth:
  • Bluesky Public Profile Browser - Actual user follower count
  • BlueskyCounter - Track Your Followers

• Twitter Follower Transfer: Sky Follower Bridge - Chrome extension to find Twitter followers
• Tweet Import:
  • BlueArk - Import all your tweets
  • twitter-to-bluesky - Open-source alternative
• Twitter Analysis: analyze-twitter-export - Tool to analyze exported Twitter data

• bskytui: A TUI for Bluesky
• Termsky: another one, log in with ssh termsky.app

• dame - skeet.tools
• awesome-atproto: A curated list of awesome ATProto resources
• awesome-bluesky: A list of all known tools available for the Bluesky platform

Also, check export or firehoses to extract data from AT Protocol, the underlying protocol on Bluesky. I listed them on AT Protocol.

I heard Bluesky is based on SQLite; here is some background about this. Check more on Personal Data Server (PDS).

My curated Data Engineering list on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ssp.sh/lists/3l6zjwqkxeh2r

Bluesky search features:

• Specific phrase: Use quotes ("hello world") - includes alt text matches
• Hashtags: Use # prefix (e.g., #hello)
• User mentions:
  • @username or to:username or mentions:username
  • mentions:me for posts mentioning you
  • "@username" for literal text matches
• Posts from user:
  • from:username
  • from:me for your own posts
• Combined search: Can mix keywords (e.g., to:username from:me)
• URL search:
  • Paste full URL to find matching posts
  • domain:example.com for all posts linking to a domain

Source: Tips and Tricks for Bluesky Search .

Bluesky does not show on the Analytic, e.g. on GoatCounter it shows off as Unknown:

They implemented an added referral link once ( Pass referrer on native (with an opt out) by gaearon · Pull Request #6648 · bluesky-social/social-app · GitHub), but reverted it shortly after.

Origin:
References: Twitter
Created 2024-10-21